Lab Packs available to check out from library

Students bring simple science experiments to kids

A group of young Summer Reading Program participants learned an important lesson about science experiments on Thursday afternoon.

To quote the "Mythbusters," in science, "Failure is always an option."

The experiment the kids from fourth grade on up were doing was creating an electrical circuit using lemons, pennies and nails connected by wires. The idea is that the acid in the lemon creates a reaction when connected to the copper in the penny and the other metals in the nail.

This is an experiment that the presenters, Fort Morgan High School students Nicolette Stieb and Celia Ruedas, had successfully completed previously.

But no matter what they did, it wasn't working at the library, much to the kids' disappointment.

Children's Librarian Cindy Frye hands a Lab Pack to a Summer Reading Program participant. The girl would then be able to check out the Lab Pack, take it home and try out the simple science experiment inside.

"Sometimes in science, that's what happens. No result," Stieb said.

But the lack of the desired result also gave the kids a chance to try to work out what was going wrong with the experiment, which was something that impressed Children's Librarian Cindy Frye.

"It's really cool that you guys are having discussions about why it's not working," she said.

Stieb also gave some tips about doing science experiments during the failed group experiment.

"Do you know you're only supposed to change one thing in a science experiment at a time?" she asked the kids.

She explained that if the scientist changes more than one thing, then it's too hard to tell which change would have made a difference in the results.

Advertisement

Stieb and Ruedas, both 16-year-old juniors next year at FMHS, weren't only visiting the Summer Reading Program to try to turn lemons into batteries with the kids, though.

The two are part of the Mustang Scholars Program, and last year, their class did a service project creating Lab Packs.

Small, black backpacks contain most of the components needed to do simple science experiments in a number of different categories, including electricity, weather, plants, physics, music and human behavior. Each lab pack contains more than one experiment related to the category.

The Lab Packs can be checked out from the library, just like a book, for free for one week. But if not returned on time or returned with missing items, there would be fees, Frye warned.

"If you're going to do this, it's going to be fun, but you have to show responsibility," she said. "But you're old enough to do that."

There are things that the young scientists would have to supply to use the Lab Packs, such as the lemons and pennies for the electricity experiment, or plastic cups for one of the plants experiments.

And whatever experiment is being conducted, Stieb, Ruedas and Frye all emphasized that getting parents' permission is important.

Ruedas and Stieb both said they hoped lots of local kids take advantage of the Lab Packs and have some fun with science.

Fort Morgan High School student Celia Ruedas, 16, gets everything set up to show Summer Reading Program participants how to use the Lab Pack electricity experiment at Thursday's program for older kids.

"And these aren't the only science experiments out there," Stieb told the kids. "If you want to do more, ask your parents for help going online (to find other experiments)."

Frye also pointed out that the library has books that have other science experiments in them that are appropriate for 10-year-olds to teens, which is also the recommended age range for the Lab Packs.

And she also said that kids who do the science experiments in the Lab Packs or on their own likely would have "a cutting edge" in science when they get to high school, like Stieb and Ruedas.

The funding for the Lab Packs project done by last year's sophomores in the class came from the Mustang Scholars Fund.

"We took a bunch of surveys, and not a lot of kids like science, and the ones who do don't get to do a lot of experiments," Stieb said of how they chose the Lab Packs.

"This is an easier way to get kids jump started," she said. "Plus, it's just fun."

Stieb said she's excited to be able to get kids interested in science, like she is.

"It gets them to think, and they don't always get the chance to do that," instead of just following directions, she said.

The Lab Pack experiments are things kids can do at home, which is part of what made the Mustang Scholars choose this service project, Stieb said.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.